Celebrities have certain role in society and mostly fixed in the certain frame. Sometimes, the demand from audiences requires stars to become what they are expected to be. Thus, Korean produces huge amount of stars to fit this demand. In this essay, I will discuss how K-pop star–Rain’s identity changes while the social manipulation is needed with his increasing fame.
Many scholars argued that the performance identity of stars can be situated in their musical persona and “a set of behaviors through which a person enact an identity ”(Auslander 2015: 329). Auslander emphasizes that the star identity can also be “an interaction between musicians and their audience with certain social distance” (2015: 329). Rain is a typical example of transforming his identity from a singer to an image representation of Korean with his increasing exposure and massive influence.
While stars performing their roles, they must consider the relationship between their current image and how their fans expected (Auslander 2015: 319). Rain debuted with his first song and attracted tons of audiences around Asia. With the promotion of social media, Rain made a transition to an actor in Korean drama Full House which played a critical role in his future popularity around the world. As the increase in popularity, Rain was mentioned in Time magazine listed “100 Influential People Who Shape Our World ” and his social identity changed to representing Korea in front of the world.
Rain’s success in 2000’s is a legend of K-pop and star identity of musician remains after he finished military services with the new album Rain Effect. Through the most illustrious period of his life, Rain remains true to his original intention.
Reference:
Auslander, Philip. “Everybody’s in Show Biz: Performing Star Identity in Popular Music.” The SAGE
Handbook of Popular Music (2015): 317.